And the dome light still doesn’t work.

This thing had all kinds of stuff wrong with it. For years the interior lights haven’t worked, it revs out of control at stop signs and occasionally idles at 25 mph, I don’t have heat in the winter and then there was this whole shaking-on-and-off when I drove it last week.

The guy said the main problem was probably the suspension, and said he’d look into the other problems. When he called Lloyd to get the go-ahead for fixing things, he found out that we have done practically nothing to this vehicle in the 12 years we’ve owned it. (It’s just our old truck. I use it to drive back and forth to work and haul things when they need haulin’.)

Craig: “Well, it looks like the coolant has never been changed?”

Lloyd: “Nope. Go ahead.”

Craig: “And these seem to be the original spark plugs?”

Lloyd: “Yep, do what you have to.”

Craig: “Your suspension is going to need new sway bar links.”

Lloyd: “Yep.”

Craig: “My kids have really been pestering me for some of those new iPads….”

Lloyd: “Do what you have to, Craig. iPads all ’round.”

Merry Christmas, Craig’s family. Sorry for neglecting you for so long, little truck.

Pretty reasonable for a 12-year-old truck! How many miles has it gone? My 11-year-old truck has 113,000+ miles on it and it’s still running fine; had coolant, hoses and fuel pump changed, but don’t remember the costs. Mom’s Subaru was rear-ended—a three-inch long ding (hole) in that high-tensile strength plastic bumper cover — $780. A catalytic converter and transmission oil change last spring was about the same. Cheaper than a new one, even than a Prius.

We just picked up our truck. It’s been maintained on a fairly (*ahem*) regular schedule, but this time the bill was similar to yours. Grab handle. Fixed. Nonfunctioning power door lock. Fixed. Oil & filter change. Yep. Replace the ball joints. OUCH!! Oh, and apparently there are still about a half-dozen “fix soon” issues.

That’s my thought as well. We’ve been pretty lucky with our vehicles so far. Lauren is under $0.03 per mile in maintenance and I’m right at $0.04 per mile on the Honda (lots more money, but lots more miles).